How I spent 12 hours among dead bodies

Why did SOKAPU declare a six-month mourning period for the late former Governor of Kaduna State, Sir Patrick Yakowa?

He was our hero and the first democratically elected governor from Southern Kaduna. He was our rallying point and a role model. He was somebody on the road to fulfilling our dream of participating in the act of governance in Kaduna State. Before Yakowa, they had declared Government House as a no-go area for my people, and then God gave us that slot. Can’t we celebrate such a man?

First, he was a man who was completely detribalised. He treated the Hausa, Fulani and the others equally and was not a religious bigot. He was fair to people from all religions. In fact, some people even felt that he was more disposed to the Hausa Muslim community than the other communities. But that is the nature of the man. He believed in fairness.

The bridges he built within the short period he was around are bridges I am not too sure we will get somebody to build in the near future. He was a real bureaucrat and an administrator, and was so friendly to people. He wasn’t a thief and did not steal government money to enrich himself. Shouldn’t we celebrate such a life? Shouldn’t the people of Kaduna State celebrate such a great man?

We declared the six months and we rounded it off with prayers. We asked the Muslim community to join us in praying for the repose of the soul of that gentleman, as well as for peace and stability of Kaduna State. Some of them responded. At the St. John’s Catholic Church where we held the prayers, there were Muslims who came for the service, including his former Secretary to Government, Lawal Ismaila Abdullahi. That tells you that Yakowa transcends religious or tribal lines.

You can see that even after death, people are still following him. That was why we declared the six-month mourning period. We are still mourning him and will only stop mourning him when we have one of us occupying the Government House again, because wherever Yakowa is, that was his dream. Until that is achieved, we will not rest.

At the service to end the six months of mourning, you spoke about the threat to your life by the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau…

The issue of insurgency in this country has placed virtually everybody under threat. But I know that in two or three video releases, the leader of the insurgency group particularly warned me to desist for fighting the cause of my own people. I didn’t take it as anything because that is what life is all about. I have heard them say the same thing to the President and governors and anybody who has an opinion that is contrary to what they believe.

Let me say that the people who started this insurgency had a genuine cause, which was hijacked and politicised. They said they were fighting corruption. They were after equality and justice, and everybody believes in that. I believe in that. If you are a group that is out to fight for justice, equality, fairness, I am for you. But when it becomes the issue of bombing innocent people, killing those who are even sympathetic to you, that is where we disagree.

I come from a community that is grossly impoverished, but I won’t carry arms against the state. I will shout and tell the whole world that there has been injustice against my own people and we have been marginalised. So, give us what belongs to us without taking arms or throwing bombs. This is the kind of struggle we want every Nigerian to engage in where they feel short-changed. Now, the struggle they started with has lost value and people now see them as killers and murderers. So, the genuine mission they started with has been abandoned; it is now political Boko Haram.

I have seen people who are trying to make themselves relevant politically by using the name Boko Haram and trying to show the world that they have sympathy for them when in the real sense, they don’t have sympathy for these people. They are just using it for political reasons. Now, the government has taken action, what are they saying? The story has changed. Who were the people that were talking about amnesty? What are they singing today now that government has acted? You can see the complacency in the whole thing.

The fact is that there were people who were feeding fat from the Boko Haram saga. Now government has acted and their means of livelihood has been cut short. So, let us wait and see the new song that they will sing.

At the memorial service, you also spoke about an accident you had. How did it happen?

I was working in a bank and we went to Lagos for a workshop. There was crisis in Lagos and there was no movement. Northerners were also being hunted. We went to Lagos by air and we were caught in the crisis. We couldn’t leave Lagos. We were staying in a hotel close to Abiola’s house. Somehow, they learnt that there were northerners in that hotel and they made effort to set it ablaze. So, the hotel management arranged a luxury bus and smuggled us out of Lagos at night.

About 15 kilometres to Ogbomoso, our vehicle ran into a broken down trailer and most of my colleagues and friends died. I was unconscious for several hours. I found myself among dead bodies for at least 12 hours. By the time we were rescued and taken to the General Hospital in Ogbomoso, I had lost about 70 per cent of my blood and they were surprised that I was still alive.

I was later moved to Baptist Medical Centre there in Ogbomoso, where I was rehabilitated for about one week before I was moved to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, where I spent about one year. God spared my life and today, I drive around on my own and can do virtually anything anybody can do.

What was it like being on the sick bed for that long?

First, that was not my first accident. But that was the longest period I was hospitalised. Thank God that I have a very enduring mind and spirit. I don’t give up easily about life, probably because of the advantage of being brought up in the village. That ruggedness in me enabled me to be able to withstand things. It was like being put in prison for one year, and I made sure that I did not allow stress to come in and weigh me down. I was one of the liveliest patients while I was in the hospital.

To me, it was like a period of reorientation and rejuvenation. It was like being sent to prison and you come out reformed. You look at life from a perspective different from the way you used to and you appreciate God. You now look at this thing they call life and realise that it can cut at any time. It is like NEPA light and God can take it away at any time. That accident conditioned me and prepared me for whatever challenges I am facing in life, and that has made me to be very rugged.

Southern Kaduna communities have been under attack from unknown gunmen for some time now. What is SOKAPU doing about them?

Since November 2011, we in Southern Kaduna have witnessed incidents of organised and sporadic attacks on our communities. It started like an accident in a village called Fadia. Shortly after, there was an attack on Bitaro village in Jaba land. From Bitaro, there was another one in Kusom, a village not far from the Gwong community where the late Governor Patrick Yakowa hails from, as well as other attacks around Kagoro Chiefdom and several other attacks in Bajju land in Zangon Kataf Local Government. There was another serious massacre in Gbagyi land in a village called Chukun, where over 18 people, including a priest, were murdered.

The most recent one is the one on Attakar land, where three villages were wiped out on the hills and more than 100 houses were set on fire. In fact, in that place, the only building remaining is a church that was partly damaged. That attack recorded close to 60 deaths. Two weeks later, there was another attack in that area where 12 people were murdered and more than 78 houses were set on fire. The casualties were more of women and children, and their foodstuffs and personal belongings were burnt.

Those attacks left us with the responsibility of resettling more than 15,000 internally displaced persons. We have tried to understand the motives behind it and our understanding has been that the Fulani have been the major suspects. The second set of people we suspect are thieves who come to steal cows. We have a chain of security operatives in that area mounting road blocks left and right. But what surprises us is that despite these attacks, we are yet to get reports that one person has been caught and prosecuted.

It leaves us wondering what those security men are doing there. Are they not brought there to protect lives and property? Is it that their number is insufficient or that they are not doing what they were sent there to do? Otherwise, how can these people always beat them hands down? So, the community is worried. The union has been involved in resettling these internally displaced persons, providing relief materials to them as well as restoring peace and confidence in the people there. We are worried that if government and security agencies cannot protect lives and property, what alternative do we have as a people? We are saying that if they cannot, let them leave so that we can organise to protect ourselves. We have the people, the knowhow and we will use whatever strategy it takes to defend our land.

I have seen it happen in the Niger Delta where they are defending their land. The Afenifere did it. The people of Nasarawa have in recent times been defending their land. The Tivs have been defending their land against these attacks. So, what we are saying is that we also have the ability to defend our land. We will mobilise the people to protect the land. But if the security operatives feel that they are there with a good intention and they are there to execute the mandate given to them to protect lives and property, then we are prepared to collaborate with them.

You can see what is happening in Borno State, where the youth are working with the JTF to point out those who are involved in the insurgency. Our people are ready to do same, because we know the terrain and how to go about hunting for our killers. We are saying that the security operatives there should find a way of keying into this vantage position to make their work easier.

What has been the response to all these attacks by the state and federal governments?

I complained to government about the attack in Attakar land. There were three villages that were first attacked. The villages are about 10 kilometres apart from each other, and they have only 25 soldiers there. These soldiers do not have helicopter or a motor bike. The people want to go and farm and rebuild their villages, but that threat is still there. If these people are not protected to the level where they can go and farm and rebuild their homes, there is an impending danger of hunger, and that is going to bounce back on government.

It is cheaper for government to improve security there and allow people to go and rebuild their land and farm. That will relieve government of the burden of feeding people who have been denied their means of livelihood. We are saying that government should improve security in the area and the security agencies themselves should collaborate with the people. The materials taken to those internally displaced persons were grossly inadequate. These attacks came at the beginning of the rainy season. Where do you want them to go?

Initially, they were occupying primary schools. When the schools resumed, they were forced to leave. Because of the hospitality of our people, many of them had to be absorbed into people’s homes. Many of these people don’t have food, clothes and other basic necessities of life. So, how do you want them to start life all over again? That is why we are saying that government needs to do more. It should not be a one-stop thing, coming at the beginning of the attacks and disappearing. The rehabilitation should be a continuous thing.

Apart from providing the basic needs, what is government doing to make sure that this does not repeat itself? Government must be proactive. They should put machinery in place to ensure proper and adequate intelligence gathering as a way of preventing future attacks. Government should not just wait until there is an attack and they provide bags of rice, spaghetti and other items. That is not what government should be doing.

What is your assessment of Kaduna State six months after Yakowa?

The score card for the man who stepped into the shoes of Yakowa is better told by a survey of the opinion of the people of Kaduna State. We are still making an assessment of what the man has been able to do in the last six months. He promised that he was going to continue with all the projects of his former boss. We are monitoring all those projects. We are trying to find out, where Yakowa stopped, how much was voted for those projects? How much has been released and how long it will take to complete them with the governor in office now? We are monitoring all the projects that are of interest to us.

The score card will reveal whether the man is really interested in completing what his former boss started. I have seen appointments in the government and for our people, a few appointments are good, and I give him kudos for that. But I want him to improve on the nature of those appointments. If you look at appointments at the federal level, we have not been treated fairly. I say this with confidence because of the number of appointments that has been given to Kaduna State, how many of them have gone to Southern Kaduna despite the overwhelming support we gave the ruling party?

Southern Kaduna gave over 51 per cent of the total votes Mr. President got from Kaduna State and more than that in the governorship election. But what do we have to show for it? Some committee appointments and membership of some boards. We do not have a minister. The ministerial slot that is supposed to be ours is being held by somebody from Zone One. The governor is from here, and the normal arrangement is that where ever the governor comes from, the minister comes from the other side. Now that the governor is from Zone One, automatically, the ministerial slot is supposed to go to Zone Three. As we speak, that slot is still there, held by somebody. It is left for the governor of the state to ensure that he fights and correct that injustice.

If I were in his position, I would have fought this in Abuja to ensure that this dysfunctional situation is corrected. As I said before, the body language will determine so many things in future; both the body language of the governor and the body language of the people of Southern Kaduna.

The Senate Committee on Constitution Review has practically dashed the hope of all those agitating for new states, including yours. What is your take on this?

That thing the Senate committee did was grossly wrong. They hurriedly went to submit their report on the basis of certain documents that have been updated. The documents they used were the ones that were submitted in 2010 whereas we had submissions that we made in 2012/2013. We were asked to update those documents and submit them, but now they are giving the whole world the impression that those of us agitating for state creation did not meet the requirements, which is not true. What I expect the Senate to do is to say that certain things were missing and we should update them in view of the realities on ground, and any group that meets the requirement for state creation, the state should be created.

We know that the process is cumbersome, but that is why the Senate committee is there in the first place. They are supposed to propose amendments that will make state creation easier. It was because we knew that the process is cumbersome that we had those sessions to ensure that when people who genuinely need a state make demand, they get it. The state Houses of Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Senate are the organs we need to create states. Once 2/3 of those people say yes, this is what we want, why should we be denied?

In the case of Gurara State which we are demanding, I must say that we have all it takes to have a state of our own. We have the capital, the human resources, the land and every other thing that it takes. Our state has a lot of potential and we are capable.